Man accused of raping girl after church

A 16-year-old girl who had spent Sunday at church found herself without a ride after services.

A fellow church member at Church of God, 205 N.E. 2nd Road, offered to drive her home, but the decision to accept the ride turned out to be a mistake.

Police say 23-year-old Edwin Carrillo-Garcia did not drive her straight home on the evening of April 3rd and instead took her to an unknown, abandoned area in Southwest Miami-Dade.

Carrillo-Garcia then asked the victim for sex and when she repeatedly said no, he stripped her clothes off from the waist down and forced himself on her, according to the police report.

“This was a dangerous situation,” said Miami-Dade Police Detective Roy Rutland. “The girl may have trusted him because they went to church together. He took her to a remote area and now he’s charged with raping her and kidnapping her.”

After the attack, Police say Carrilo-Garcia asked the girl for directions to her house and drove her home. Carrillo-Garcia faced a bond court judge Tuesday who ordered him held no bond.

Police say Carrillo-Garcia admitted to forcing the victim to have intercourse with him after she told him “no” more than once.

The church’s assistant pastor is surprised at the allegations.

“I’m very, very upset. I am very surprised. You would never think people would do something like that here,” said Jacento Yac, the Assistant Pastor of Church of God.

He told CBS4′s Peter D’Oench that “I feel bad because you are not supposed to do things like this as a church member. You are supposed to take the moral path.”

Yac said Church of God is a place of worship for some 40 Guatamalan immigrants and is a tight-knit community. He says nothing like this has ever happened before.

Carrillo-Garcia told a bond court judge that he is a part time construction worker. The judge ruled he must supply his own lawyer.

Carillo-Garcia is a Guatemalan national and is also being held for Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).